Nintendo Has a Lot Riding on the Wii U

Six years after the launch of its groundbreaking Wii console, Nintendo is looking to score a hit with the coveted Wii U, a new device that once again aims to influence the way people play video games.

By KYLE KENNEDYTHE LEDGER

LAKELAND | All eyes are on Nintendo today.Six years after the launch of its groundbreaking Wii console, the Japanese video game giant is looking to score a hit with the coveted Wii U, a new device that once again aims to influence the way people play video games.The stakes are high. The video game market has only become more competitive since the original Wii debuted, and despite that console's runaway success — about 97 million units have been sold globally — Nintendo faces challenges with the Wii U."I'm pulling for the Wii U, and I'm pulling for the new kinds of experiences it could provide," said Ron Weaver, faculty member with the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. "I'm a fan of it, but there are only so many (consumer) dollars to go around."The Wii U's key selling point is its GamePad controller, which has traditional thumb sticks and buttons along with a 6.2-inch touch screen, making it resemble and function like a tablet PC. Similar to its predecessor, the Wii U's GamePad enables motion-based control and is compatible with "nearly all" Wii software and accessories. The controller also is used for browsing live and recorded TV programs.Wii U games run in high definition and make use of the GamePad's touch screen. A deluxe version of the new console, which includes the "Nintendo Land" game and extra memory, will cost $350, compared to $300 for the basic Wii U package.Ultimately, a console's success comes down to the quality of its games. The first Wii came packaged with the immensely popular "Wii Sports," and it remains to be seen if anything in the Wii U's starting lineup will have mass appeal.Jamie Lisbon, a married father and Wii owner from Lakeland, said he plans to keep an eye on the Wii U."If it has good family games, that's the biggest thing," he said. "I think it's going to be pretty interesting, but it's not on my Christmas list just yet." A total 23 Wii U games are available at launch, ranging from the Nintendo-published "New Super Mario Bros. U," to third-party offerings like Disney's "Epic Mickey 2" and Ubisoft's gory horror adventure "ZombiU." Major, multi-platform releases, such as "Call of Duty: Black Ops II," also are making an appearance on the Wii U.Nintendo is expecting to sell 5.5 million Wii Us through March, but actually getting your hands on one could prove difficult. Shortages are anticipated, and many online retailers sold out of Wii U pre-orders long ago. Last week, the GameStop chain announced that nearly 500,000 customers had placed their name on a waiting list for the Wii U."We want product to be available on Day One in stores throughout the country. If you line up or get there early, you should be able to get product on Day One," said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo's executive vice president of sales and marketing, in an interview with VentureBeat earlier this month. "We have said that we'll have more Wii U units on store shelves in week one than we did for Wii in 2006. We'll also have replenishment much more frequently during the holiday than we did for Wii. Having said that, though, we're guessing there could be shortages."The Wii U has big shoes to fill.The original Wii, with its innovative controller and family friendly games, cultivated a broad and diverse fan base that included people who did not normally play video games.The console's accessibility led to eye-popping sales. The roughly 97 million Wii units sold worldwide to date outpaces both Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3, with sales of about 70 million units each."When Nintendo came out with the Wii, the console market was still only tapping a small niche" of players, Weaver said. "It was valuable that the Wii showed us the market was larger. ... The casual market that Nintendo tapped into is certainly large and lucrative."Microsoft and Sony took notice, eventually developing motion-based control devices for their own consoles. But with its modest graphical horsepower, the Wii has not be able to support the kind of visually intensive, high-definition games that are the bread and butter of major video game publishers.The Wii's technological shortcomings gave it a bad rap among many hard-core gamers, which could in turn limit some enthusiasm for the Wii U, Weaver said. In addition, he noted the legion of casual players who adopted the Wii now have a multitude of inexpensive options in the form of Facebook and mobile/tablet games."The Wii U has so much more competition within the niche its filling now," Weaver said. "It's definitely in a different position than when the original Wii came out."

[ Kyle Kennedy can be reached at kyle.kennedy@theledger.com or 863-802-7584. ]

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